NBA Championship Futures – Start of the Playoffs

Way back at the beginning of the season you could’ve taken the Warriors to win the championship at +480. Six months and seventy three wins later and the best odds for them are -150. That was a great bet back then and is still probably a pretty good bet right now. There just hasn’t been many teams that have shown they can hang with them this season and in a seven game series it’s hard to imagine anyone bettering them unless some sort of injury happens to one of their core players. That would really suck if that happened, but we saw it happen last season with the Cavaliers who lost their second and third best players. Then again, as long as it’s not Curry I could almost see the Warriors getting it done. They are just that good and this feels like a crowning of the next great dynasty in the NBA. Time will tell.

If something weird does end up happening to the Warriors then the San Antonio Spurs are probably the next best bet out there. Their defense has just been amazing this season, they have the best coach in all of basketball and Kawhi Leonard is becoming a superstar. In Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge always turned it on for the playoffs and I fully expect them to take the Warriors to at least six games in the Western Conference Finals. You can do worse than taking a flyer on these guys. Just know that it is that, a flyer.

The as of now uncrowned Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers are also a pretty interesting case at +505. They seem like a shoe-in for the NBA Finals and that gives them a better chance of winning the title than just about anyone else in the league outside of the Warriors. If any injury happens and they’re in the Finals, Lebron will smell blood and he will get it done. Hell, he might just do that anyways. I’d probably give them about a 15% chance of beating the Warriors straight up as things are now, but three rounds from now? Who knows? Stranger things have happened and Lebron seems to know that he is running out of time to get this done. As long as they don’t have an injury situation like they did in last year’s playoffs, they have a puncher’s chance.

The only other team I’d really consider taking is the Oklahoma City Thunder at +2050 and that is a straight up bet and a prayer. They have two players who are better than just about anyone else’s two best players and if those guys could somehow combine for 80+ points per game in a series against the Warriors or Spurs, who knows? They 3-12 they are weaker than all of these other teams, but 1-2? They are the best. Never count out the team with the best players. (Unless they are playing for the Warriors.)